The undervalued contribution of mangrove protection in Mexico to carbon emission targets

Adame, María Fernanda; Brown, Christopher J.; Bejarano, Marylin; Herrera-Silveira, Jorge A.; Ezcurra, Paula; Kauffman, J. Boone; Birdsey, Richard A.

doi:10.1111/conl.12445

Cited by 63 publications

(70 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The below ground mean C org consisted of approximately 77% of the total C org stock for Mexico. This value is consistent with other reports for the C org stocks in Mexico, which vary between 364 Mg C org ha −1 and 442 Mg C org ha −1 (Herrera- Adame et al, 2018). Similar to the present work, both studies used literature and original data, suggesting that the real value of the total C org stock of Mexico's mangrove is approximately 434 Mg C org ha −1 , which is a below global average that was reported elsewhere as ranging from 885 to 937 Mg C org ha −1 and less than Tier 1 default mangrove's values reported by the IPCC (511 Mg C org ha −1 ).…”

Section: Synthesis Of Mangrove Stocks By Above Ground and Below Grounsupporting

confidence: 93%

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Blue carbon of Mexico, carbon stocks and fluxes: a systematic review

Herrera-Silveira

Pech-Cardenas

Morales-Ojeda

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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Mexico has more than 750,000 ha of mangroves and more than 400,000 ha of seagrasses. However, approximately 200,000 ha of mangroves and an unknown area of seagrass have been lost due to coastal development associated with urban, industrial and tourist purposes. In 2018, the approved reforms to the General Law on Climate Change (LGCC) aligned the Mexican law with the international objectives established in the 2nd Article of the Paris Agreement. This action proves Mexico’s commitment to contributing to the global target of stabilizing the greenhouse gas emissions concentration in the planet. Thus, restoring and conserving mangrove and seagrass habitats could contribute to fulfilling this commitment. Therefore, as a first step in establishing a mitigation and adaptation plan against climate change with respect to conservation and restoration actions of these ecosystems, we evaluated Mexican blue carbon ecosystems through a systematic review of the carbon stock using the standardized method of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA). We used the data from 126 eligible studies for both ecosystems (n = 1220). The results indicated that information is missing at the regional level. However, the average above and below ground organic carbon stocks from mangroves in Mexico is 113.6 ± 5.5 (95% CI [99.3–118.4]) Mg Corg ha−1 and 385.1 ± 22 (95% CI [344.5–431.9]) Mg Corg ha−1, respectively. The variability in the Corg stocks for both blue carbon ecosystems in Mexico is related to variations in climate, hydrology and geomorphology observed along the country’s coasts in addition to the size and number of plots evaluated with respect to the spatial cover. The highest values for mangroves were related to humid climate conditions, although in the case of seagrasses, they were related to low levels of hydrodynamic stress. Based on the official extent of mangrove and seagrass area in Mexico, we estimate a total carbon stock of 237.7 Tg Corg from mangroves and 48.1 Tg Corg from seagrasses. However, mangroves and seagrasses are still being lost due to land use change despite Mexican laws meant to incorporate environmental compensation. Such losses are largely due to loopholes in the legal framework that dilute the laws’ effectiveness and thus ability to protect the ecosystem. The estimated emissions from land use change under a conservative approach in mangroves of Mexico were approximately 24 Tg CO2e in the last 20 years. Therefore, the incorporation of blue carbon into the carbon market as a viable source of supplemental finance for mangrove and seagrass protection is an attractive win-win opportunity.

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Section: Synthesis Of Mangrove Stocks By Above Ground and Below Grounsupporting

confidence: 93%

“…Dark gray bars correspond to data from Africa (Jones et al, 2014). Light gray bars correspond to data from America (Kauffman et al, 2014;Bhomia et al, 2016;Kauffman et al, 2018 andThorhaug et al, 2018). Red bar corresponds to data from Mexico obtained in this study.…”

Section: Mexico's Blue Carbon In Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Blue carbon of Mexico, carbon stocks and fluxes: a systematic review

Herrera-Silveira

Pech-Cardenas

Morales-Ojeda

et al. 2020

PeerJ

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“…Common strategies are required as problems originating in one country may impact the whole LME [8]. Joint efforts to preserve the Gulf of Mexico's natural resources would allow a dramatic improvement in both ecosystems' health and human development [51], as well as a great climate change mitigation effort through blue carbon storage [18,52], even with small mangroves [53].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Nitrogen Pollution in a Coastal Region with Mangroves of the Southern Gulf of Mexico

Temino-Boes

Romero-López

Romero

2019

Water

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Nitrogen pollution is a growing problem in many rivers and estuaries of the Southern Gulf of Mexico. In Costa Esmeralda, a tourist destination in Veracruz, the increasing nitrogen pollution is causing severe environmental damage. However, very few studies addressed nitrogen pollution and its consequences for beaches and mangroves. In this study, a spatiotemporal evaluation of nitrogen concentrations was performed along two rivers discharging into Costa Esmeralda and the associated mangrove and coastal areas. The data used was obtained from the local government, which measured ammonium, nitrate and organic nitrogen concentrations between 2013 and 2016 with four annual measurements. Clustering analysis was used to detect the nitrogen concentration differences between riverine and coastal sites. Additionally, Mann-Kendall test was used to detect the trends throughout the study period. The Mann-Whitney W-test determined the difference in the median concentrations between the dry and the wet season. The results indicate that organic nitrogen concentrations are increasing in river mouths and coastal waters. Nitrogen pollution caused an intrusion of water hyacinths in touristic beaches and completely covered mangroves. The decomposition of these plants in saline waters was identified as the main potential source of increasing organic concentrations, driven by nitrogen pollution from wastewater, deforestation and fertilizers, and causing many environmental and socio-economic damage to the area. The results shed light on the prevailing water pollution problems in the Southern Gulf of Mexico.

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“…Thus, the capability for mangroves to provide critical habitat for many fished species may be jeopardised by fragmentation. The biophysical impacts of fragmentation in mangroves are likely to influence the ability of forests to capture and store carbon 6,29 . Given the number of important ecological changes associated with the fragmentation of mangrove forests, we suggest that fragmentation should be explored as a way to monitor the deterioration of mangrove ecosystems at large scales.…”

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confidence: 99%

Global trends in mangrove forest fragmentation

Bryan-Brown

Connolly

Richards

et al. 2020

Sci Rep

Self Cite

205

118

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fragmentation is a major driver of ecosystem degradation, reducing the capacity of habitats to provide many important ecosystem services. Mangrove ecosystem services, such as erosion prevention, shoreline protection and mitigation of climate change (through carbon sequestration), depend on the size and arrangement of forest patches, but we know little about broad-scale patterns of mangrove forest fragmentation. Here we conduct a multi-scale analysis using global estimates of mangrove density and regional drivers of mangrove deforestation to map relationships between habitat loss and fragmentation. Mangrove fragmentation was ubiquitous; however, there are geographic disparities between mangrove loss and fragmentation; some regions, like cambodia and the southern caribbean, had relatively little loss, but their forests have been extensively fragmented. in Southeast Asia, a global hotspot of mangrove loss, the conversion of forests to aquaculture and rice plantations were the biggest drivers of loss (>50%) and fragmentation. Surprisingly, conversion of forests to oil palm plantations, responsible for >15% of all deforestation in Southeast Asia, was only weakly correlated with mangrove fragmentation. Thus, the management of different deforestation drivers may increase or decrease fragmentation. Our findings suggest that large scale monitoring of mangrove forests should also consider fragmentation. this work highlights that regional priorities for conservation based on forest loss rates can overlook fragmentation and associated loss of ecosystem functionality.Mangroves are intertidal wetlands found along coastlines in much of the tropical, subtropical and warm-temperate world. These forests provide valuable ecosystem services including preventing erosion 1 , providing habitat for fisheries species 2 , protecting coastal communities from extreme weather events 3,4 and storing large reserves of blue carbon, thus mitigating global climate change 5 . The services provided by mangroves are threatened by anthropogenic processes including deforestation 6 and sea-level rise 7,8 . Historically, mangroves were subject to high rates of deforestation of up to 3.6% per annum 9 . However, since the turn of the millennium global mangrove deforestation rates have slowed, with annual loss rates of 0.2-0.7% 10,11 . Lower rates of loss are due to near total historical loss of forest patches in some regions, but also improved conservation practices 11 and improvements in large scale monitoring techniques that provide more accurate estimates of cover and loss than were available historically 10,12 . The majority of contemporary mangrove loss occurs in Southeast Asia, where ~50% of the remaining global mangrove forest area is located, with nations such as Indonesia, Malaysia and Myanmar continuing to show losses of 0.26, 0.41 and 0.70% per year, respectively 10 .Recently, researchers have highlighted that simply reporting mangrove total loss rates is insufficient for prioritising conservation actions 11 , if there is insufficient knowledge...

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The undervalued contribution of mangrove protection in Mexico to carbon emission targets

Cited by 63 publications

References 27 publications

Blue carbon of Mexico, carbon stocks and fluxes: a systematic review

Blue carbon of Mexico, carbon stocks and fluxes: a systematic review

A Spatiotemporal Analysis of Nitrogen Pollution in a Coastal Region with Mangroves of the Southern Gulf of Mexico

Global trends in mangrove forest fragmentation

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